We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Yeni Garcia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Yeni, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?
What does it take to be successful is such a loaded question. I believe in lifting each other up even if your business is identical to mine . It’s no fun when you are the only one at the top. In my line of business I have seen many amazing women pull themselves up and become successful even when the odds were against them . I want to see more of that in this industry . When I first started , it was so hard trying to figure out what material to use or how to get good quality merch without the risk of overpaying . I must have gone through countless amount of product until I got it figured out . After struggling to find my rhythm , I promised to never let anyone go through this alone . That’s why now I always share my secrets with everyone and anyone who is willing to learn . No need to gate keep , just good old fashioned kindness .
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Yeni and I run a small business named Yenis_Grotto . This idea started when I had my second child (14yrs ago ) but didn’t come to reality until 2021. I was a mother of two who wanted to have those lavish parties for them with the custom shirts and cake toppers to post on Instagram haha . Me and my husband were barely making it having two little babies and life to pay for . I always said one day I’m going to buy a Cricut and the world will see my creativity . That time came in 2020 when I was on furlough. I went to Michael’s and my husband told the cashier “please charge me a Cricut for my wife .. she’s bored at home and it’s time “ . That was the beginning of this incredible journey I call a business . We got home and he studied the Cricut and trained me how to do all the little details on the Cricut . After months of watching videos and studying the process , we got to work on designs and started to make things for family , like shirts and customs cake toppers . Slowly we began to expand our business to kids party designs by utilizing my oldest daughters decirla art skills and my youngest eye for details and color coordination . All 4 of us even began to learn how to make balloon aches to expand the list of party supplies we offered . When I say this is a family business .. I mean it a family business !
One of the things I’m most proud of is giving back to the same high school I graduated from and my daughters attend to. I have had the privilege to work side by side with coaches at the Santa Ana Unified school district’l and crate their Gear Designs for the year of 2024 . I have created gear for the kids and staff and am looking forward to what 2025 is in store for us. Being able to cut costs for the school to look their best is an incredible way to not only show gratitude towards the staff and their hard work , but also to show schools that business like mine love to give back to our community. This is by far my proudest moment thus far.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
It took me a while before I built the courage to put my business out there on social media . Let’s face it .. we are our biggest critic and sometimes we feel scared to put ourselves out there . I felt like it was putting a magnifying glass on me to criticize. I am here to tell you I wish I did this sooner rather than later , although my following number is not as huge as some might expect .. my revenue has increased 3x the amount I made the years I didn’t have social media. Yes there will always be those who have “advise “ on how you are doing things wrong , but you have to go through what does not work in order to find what works . Your business is yours and yours only . What works for me might not work for you and code versa . One thing that has worked for me and my wonderful friend at Bonafide Kreationz ( Denise ) is keeping up with what’s trending . Me and her always work together of things seem off on our social media and keep each other up to date with what’s trending . For example it’s January now and by the end of the first week in January you should start posting Valentine’s Day merch to stay ahead of the game . If the store is putting up 4th of July merch out on the shelves … you need to start posting Valentine’s 4th of July merch on Silvia’s media … Make sense ?.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Resilience is something I know plenty about . Being a mother of 2 and a guardian to my nephew I have learned the difficult task of adapting personal and business . I am a full time employee who works 40+ hours a week , a wife , and a mother before I’m a business owner . Trust me when I tell you it has its moments . My youngest is in cheer for her school and my oldest in in marching band . Both those schedules combined are enough to want to make you quit sometimes . Still I have made it through 2 seasons and can’t wait for next year . Having a family and sport schedules while being a full time employee / business is difficult but not impossible. I have bee in doing it for a couple years and I can’t tell you how tired I am at the end of football season or band season but I would not have it any other way . My kids see me at every event even when I’m swamped with orders at home . They see me at every concert and showcase because I am a mother first .. still my customers get their product on time because we all come home and jump on packaging those orders . We have adapted to this chaotic normality and so could anyone else .
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/thelittlemermaidworld84?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=b43078f9-e354-4fa7-84ba-06e76f502bbd
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yenis_grotto/
